Pac-Man
by L. Greene
Summary: "Have her dressed up as a ghost and you dressed up as Pac-Man. Walk around downtown holding hands, and whenever anyone sees you two, pretend to be embarrassed, and run off screaming 'wocka wocka wocka.'" AU! Part 3/20 of the "Date Night" series, based on a list of twenty unusual date ideas.


**Well, I figured I could crank out another update for the "Date Night" series. Here you go! SABRIEL! (I seriously couldn't see any pairing other than this one pulling it off. I'm really impressed with how these got assigned, actually.)**

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_Have her dressed up as a ghost and you dressed up as Pac-Man. Walk around downtown holding hands, and whenever anyone sees you two, pretend to be embarrassed, and run off screaming "wocka wocka wocka."_

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"I feel ridiculous," Sam whined, picking at the bright, solid-red Pac-Man ghost costume he was currently dressed in.

"You _look_ ridiculous," Gabriel pointed out. He looked even more ridiculous, though. _He_ was the one wearing the actual Pac-Man costume. He looked like a cheese wheel with a mischievous smirk. Sam briefly pondered the potential of a Trickster dairy product and decided that in a long line of utterly absurd musings, this one was by far the most absurd. Of course, the whole situation was on a completely different level of ludicrous, exceeding anything else Sam could have possibly fathomed.

Why he'd agreed to this in the first place was beyond him, but it had been primarily Gabriel's idea. At the time, he thought Gabriel was joking—it was something he would do. Gabriel would suggest something stupid for them to do and Sam would go along with it because the stupid things usually never ended up happening. But somehow, _this_ had been the one thing that ended up transpiring.

"Ready, Sammy?" Gabriel asked, producing a Jolly Rancher from somewhere in his obscenely idiotic costume and popping it in his mouth. They'd gotten them (the costumes, not the candy) at a discount, considering Halloween was a good three months away.

No matter how stupid he felt, he was a man of his word, and something this out-there was bound to have Gabriel laughing all day. He did love to see and hear Gabriel laughing. He'd recently realized that he would do the strangest things to make him happy. "Yeah, I guess so. I think the _real_ question, though," he started with mock-seriousness, "is are _you_ ready?"

Gabriel gave him a very serious look. "I'm _very_ ready." He grabbed Sam's hand and led him out the door toward the trolley stop, which was thankfully only a two-minute walk away.

They got a lot of funny looks waiting for the trolley to arrive. Sam felt a little self-conscious as he stood there next to Gabriel, but his discomfort was lessened by how at-ease the shorter man seemed to be. Sam knew his boyfriend was incredibly uninhibited and it was one of the things he admired most about him. Gabriel was always unapologetically himself, even when being himself caused raised eyebrows from the strangeness of it. He was quirky and goofy and tried to bring out the best in everyone, and he buzzed through candy like nobody's business and wore what he wanted and listened to trashy pop music and watched awful reality TV (whether out of genuine interest or just to be ironic, Sam couldn't quite tell. It could have easily been either) and had absolutely no problem with trying to climb onto Sam's back for a piggyback ride.

But he was one of the sweetest people Sam knew, even if he didn't show it sometimes. Having Gabriel next to him made this all a lot easier to bear. And maybe someone would take a video and post it on YouTube. _That_ would be sure to make Gabriel's day. He'd always entertained the thought of trying to become an internet sensation. Actually, this wasn't a bad way to do it.

The stares continued on the trolley, and a few people even took pictures. Gabriel just grinned and slid a pair of huge sunglasses onto his face. He probably would have charged up and down the aisle if people's legs hadn't been in the way. For that, Sam was grateful. He put on his own pair of red sunglasses to match his ridiculous ghost costume and felt a little better. With the sunglasses, he didn't feel so exposed.

Once the trolley screeched to a halt at the Convention Center stop, Gabriel practically bounded to the pavement, taking off his sunglasses and stashing them somewhere in his costume. Sam had pockets in his—visible pockets; Gabriel could have pockets in the body of the costume, now that Sam was thinking about it—so he was able to put away his own sunglasses as he followed Gabriel and a half-dozen other people got off as well. The blonde looked around for a moment before grabbing Sam's hand and pulling him down the street toward the Gaslamp Quarter. Sam just grinned and laced his fingers through Gabriel's, letting himself be led around. This part wasn't so bad. He had Gabriel with him, after all. Even though Sam was eight inches taller than him, it sometimes felt like Gabriel was the one who was the great defender.

They made it about sixty feet before Gabriel saw someone pointing and nudging the person next to her. Both of them started giggling and suddenly he released Sam's hand and dashed ahead. "WOCKA-WOCKA-WOCKA-WOCKA!" he yelled in an impressive Pac-Man imitation. Pedestrians heard him coming and quickly stepped out of his way, laughing hysterically the whole time. Sam could only stand there and heave with silent laughter for a good ten seconds. When he finally recovered, he charged after Gabriel (who was admittedly very hard to miss), wishing the ghosts made a sound so he could try to mimic _that_.

Gabriel was quick and had a ten- or fifteen-second head start, but Sam was also quick and had the benefit of longer legs. He was able to catch up with Gabriel pretty quickly. People stepped out of his way as well and the laughter redoubled. Once he grabbed Gabriel's arm to slow him down, the shorter man fell down onto the ground, pretending he'd died. This made Sam laugh, and he tried to hoist Gabriel back to his feet.

"Tried" was the operative word. The costume was so bulky that he wasn't able to get a good grip from any angle he could think of. Finally he gave up and toed at Gabriel's leg. "Okay, you're gonna have to get up yourself. I can't do it."

Gabriel opened one golden eye and stuck out his tongue. He executed some complicated roll that Sam was fairly certain had broken at least one law of physics and hopped back to his feet. Once he brushed off his costume, he grabbed Sam's hand again and started heading toward the Ghirardelli store. Sam knew that this had been the inevitable stop and had been bracing himself for it.

The employees burst out laughing the moment they walked in. The girl who handed out free pieces of chocolate handed them both four or five pieces each. Gabriel immediately unwrapped all of his and stuffed them in his mouth. "They'll melt otherwise," he somehow explained with his mouth full.

Yes, Sam was convinced his boyfriend had the ability to bend the laws of reality to his will. Chuckling, he wrapped his arm around Gabriel as best he could and gave him a quick kiss. "You're a weirdo but I love you," he laughed.

"I think you love me because I _am_ a weirdo," Gabriel argued, but he grinned. "Besides, you're a moose and I love _you_."

Sam gave him a playful shove and unwrapped one of his pieces of chocolate. As he expected, Gabriel snatched it out of his hand. It was okay, though. He was more into health food, and Gabriel was the sugar fiend. They balanced each other out. Gabriel pushed Sam out of his comfort zone and Sam kept Gabriel grounded. Feeling much less awkward now that the worst was behind them, he followed Gabriel up to the register.


End file.
